Best Places23301, VA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 23301, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

23301 ranks 29,744th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.

#29,744
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 23301

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 23301 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

23301's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Short commutes
Top 10%Cheap car insurance
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 23301 with other zip codes.

Where 23301 ranks high

  • Short commute14.4 minutes each way, better than 97% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than 80% of zip codes
  • School gradeB+, better than 78% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than 78% of zip codes

Where 23301 ranks low

  • Health outlookBetter than only 2% of zip codes
  • Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 23301

A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 23301 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $48,005, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$63,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,462
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $248,432 home
Median rent
$948
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,267
Property tax$113
Homeowners insurance$83

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 23301's effective rate of 0.55%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 23301

23301 runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.

Median age
34
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
22%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1829%
18 to 3419%
35 to 4916%
50 to 6415%
65 and older22%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 23301.


Who works in 23301, and how

Work in 23301 centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
8%
below the national average
Unemployment
3.0%
below the national average
Job growth
−2.5%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing24%
Agriculture & forestry18%
Health care & social16%
Education9%
Retail trade7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 90%
  • Work from home 8%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in 23301

The coast is about 28 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 23301, which the map shows.

To the coast
28 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in 23301, month by month

23301 sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January47°39°30°
April67°56°46°
July87°78°70°
October72°61°51°

Flying in and out of 23301

The nearest airport, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 92 miles away.

Nearest airport
SBY
Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional, about 44 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
258th-busiest in the US, 7 nonstop destinations
Average drive
63 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 23301

Schools across 23301 average a B+, better than 78% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 23301 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


23301 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 23301 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 23301

Is 23301 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 23301 ranks 29,744th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on short commutes, cheap car insurance, and quiet, and lowest on health outcomes and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 23301 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $248,432. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $48,005 median income, cost of living beats 7% of zip codes.

Is 23301 safe?

23301 is safer than 4% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $803 per resident a year.


Compare 23301 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 23301. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 23301 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

23301 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 23301: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 23301: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 23301: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 23301: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

23301 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.